ZhengdingWade-Giles romanization Cheng-tingPinyin Zhengdingtownin , western Hopeh Hebei sheng (province), China. The town has been strategically important throughout history, being situated on the edge of the North China Plain at the foot of the T’ai-hang Taihang Mountains and commanding the approaches to one of the principal routes from the plain into Shansi Shanxi province.

The area was a part of the state of Chao Zhao during the Warring States period (475–221 BCBCE), and a county town named Chen-ting Zhending was established there by the Han dynasty (206 BC–AD 220BCE–220 CE) in the 2nd century BCBCE. It kept the that name until 1723, when it was changed to Cheng-ting Zhengding because the Chinese character chenzhenwas tabooed , for being part of the emperor’s name. From early Sung Song times (960–1127) the town was the seat of the Chen-ting Zhending superior prefecture, and until the 20th century it was a major administrative centre for western Hopehsouthwestern Hebei. It was also an important route centre and trading town, benefiting from river transport to the coastal area via the Hu-t’o Hutuo River and being also on the main post road from Peking Beijing through western Hopehsouthwestern Hebei. In the 20th century, however, a minor market town to the south of the Hu-t’o Hutuo River, Shih-chia-chuangShijiazhuang, became an important rail junction and grew rapidly as a major trading centre and, from 1949, as a major industrial city. ThusCheng-ting, Zhengding, an important trading town since T’ang the Tang dynasty (618–907)times, was rapidly eclipsed, and eventually Shih-chia-chuang Shijiazhuang took over its administrative function as well, leaving it as a minor satellite city.

Cheng-tingZhengding, however, retains many monuments and traces reminders of its ancient importance. It has, in particular, many Notable are its numerous Buddhist monuments, because in built during Sui (581–618) and T’ang Tang times, when it was a centre of Buddhism. The town was the seat of one of the late T’ang Tang provincial governors who was a pious Buddhist, and in consequence the Buddhist foundations there were comparatively unscathed by the persecution of 843–845. Pop. (mid-1970s est.) 10,000–50,000.the religion in the mid-9th century. The Longxing Monastery, built in 581, is one of the best-preserved large-scale ancient Buddhist structures in China. The statue of Guanyin Buddha (Avalokitesvara) in the monastery, standing 72 feet (22 metres) high, is thought to be the tallest bronze Buddha statue in China. Pop. (2000) 91,299.